You canâ€™t know where youâ€™re going, some people argue, until you know where youâ€™ve been.

For the month of October the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community â€“â€“ one built upon activism, oppression and occasional success â€“â€“ will take time to do just that, learning the history that has defined it.

Throughout the month, CSU will welcome national activists and entertainers for a series of events that, hosted by the GLBT Resource Center, will promote messages of awareness and importance of identity to students and faculty.

A tradition 16 years in the making, GLBT History Month began with a Missouri high school teacherâ€™s hope to emphasize, as other communities do, the history of the GLBT movement, according to the eventâ€™s website.

More prominent since the early 2000s, this month highlights a new personal icon each day in October, celebrating the accomplishments of people who arenâ€™t always recognized for their contribution to not only to the GLBT movement but also to social and technological innovations.

From Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady and delegate to the United Nations, to Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student whose murder in 1998 sparked national governmental reform, the monthâ€™s icons are faces of activism and awareness, people on whose actions the communityâ€™s present status rests.

An â€œinvisibleâ€ community as Foula Dimopoulos, the director of the GLBT Resource Center on campus, describes it, the GLBT community worked for this event to evolve from a single day, National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, into a month-long effort.

Since that time, this month has offered â€œformal and informal outlets to have moments to celebrate our lives,â€ Dimopoulos said.

â€œThereâ€™s so much pain in the world, but also so much to celebrate,â€ she said.

To bring this monthâ€™s tradition to campus, the GLBT Resource Center has teamed up with organizations like Campus Activities, the Association for Student Activity Programming and the Native American Cultural Center, among others, to host a variety of events centered on GLBT history and awareness.

With events beginning Monday, the center will host presentations that include those from Mia Mingus, Robyn Ochs and Jade Esteban Estrada, activists or entertainers who will share their thoughts and stories of identity and community.

â€œItâ€™s about understanding the ways that our lives and identities intersect,â€ Dimopoulos said.

Nationally presented by the Equality Forum since 2006, GLBT History Month â€œteaches (GBLT) heritage, provides role models â€¦ and makes the civil rights statement of our extraordinary national and international contributions,â€ according to the website.

At home, the message is a little simpler but just as important for the GLBT community.

â€œWhile weâ€™re all different, weâ€™re also very similar,â€ Dimopoulos said. â€œ(This month) is about community, voice and belonging.â€

Each event in this monthâ€™s series on campus will have an interpreter and all are free and open to the public.

A complete list of the events can be found online at Collegian.com.

Design Editor and Copy Chief Alexandra Sieh can be reached at news@collegian.com.

UncategorizedComments Off on Student Conduct at Colorado State still relevant

Sep302010

Authors: Rachel Childs

Off-campus living is the next step in independence for many sophomores, but what many students donâ€™t realize is their off-campus actions could still have repercussions for them at Colorado State University.

Police in Fort Collins, Loveland, the rest of Colorado, or even police out of state, often refer citations written to students or criminal offenses committed by students to CSUâ€™s Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct Services, CRSCS, located in Aylesworth Hall.

â€œWe have a responsibility in the Fort Collins community to address the behavior of our students,â€ said Craig Chesson, CRSCS Director.

CRSCS considers a student to be anyone who is admitted to the university, studies at CSU or has any ongoing relationship with CSU. This includes off-campus students who often do not consider their activities part of university business.

If CRSCS receives a referral, staff decides if the offense warrants their involvement, and the student meets with a hearing officer and is given a chance to talk about their offense. They are often assigned an educational program to participate in, if CRSCS thinks that they need the help.

â€œWhen youâ€™re a student, your behavior impacts the reputation of the university,â€ Chesson said

Jenni McDermott, a sophomore human development and family studies major, was ticketed for a noise violation after she threw a party in her apartment over the summer.

â€œWe were very cooperative. Everybody left the party,â€ McDermott said.
McDermottâ€™s cooperation with Fort Collins Police Services got the $1,000 ticket reduced to $125 and she did not have to take classes through the city.

Nonetheless, she was required to go through a university program.

McDermott met with a conduct officer and was assigned to the Party Partners Program, a two-hour seminar led by an off-duty police officer and a CRSC employee who instruct students on how to party safely.

â€œIâ€™m just more aware of what I should have done differently,â€ McDermott said.

To help keep students out of CRSCS, Off-Campus Life is a resource located in the Lory Student Center that works with students who live or are seeking to live in their own places.

The office also has party registration. Students can submit their names, two phone numbers and an address to Off-Campus Life, who then provides police dispatchers with the information.

Information stays in the hands of the dispatchers, and when a noise complaint is made to an address on the list, the dispatcher places a warning call.

Only 1 percent of 540 students who have used the service have received citations, according to Jean Ortega, director of Off-Campus Life.

In addition, the Community Liason program allows Off-Campus Life to work with students and neighbors to promote positive relationships by holding things like neighborhood meetings and involving students in clean-up programs to improve neighborhood relations.

Ortega and Chesson agree that the best way to prevent trouble and neighborhood disagreements is simply to get neighbors to meet with each other.

â€œThey are parents of someone too, they are families of someone too,â€ Ortega said.

Crime Beat Reporter Rachel Childs can be reached at news@collegian.com.

UncategorizedComments Off on Colorado State student government administration holds to promise

Sep302010

Authors: Jordyn Dahl

Student government executives have fulfilled one of their campaign promises to students by pushing final exam times from 7 to 7:30 a.m.

Students in the past have had difficulty making their 7 a.m. finals since Transfort buses do not arrive on campus before 7 a.m. The Associated Students of CSU said pushing final times back 30 minutes allows students to arrive on time and relax before their test.

Associated Students of CSU President Cooper Anderson worked out the agreement with Transfort so that buses running this semester will arrive on time for student to make it to their finals before the switch next semester.

â€œThe first (Transfort) arrivals will be at least 15 minutes early,â€ Anderson said.

The passing periods between final exams will remain 10 minutes long for the spring semester.

With this new finals schedule, students who have morning classes will also have morning finals; the same goes for afternoon classes, according to ASCSU Director of Academics Shadi Barzideh.

Final exams will run until 10:30 p.m. with the new schedule.

â€œThis is a major success for ASCSU by accommodating the transportation needs and time concerns for students during a crucial and stressful time in their academic career,â€ Anderson said in a press release.

ASCSU officials said this is a major accomplishment but that the organization is still looking for a bigger solution.

UncategorizedComments Off on Rams win five-set thriller in MWC home opener

Sep302010

Authors: Kyle Grabowski

Editor’s note: In the Friday print edition of this story, the headline reads “Rams win five-set thriller in MWC opener.” Colorado State’s MWC opener was a week ago at Brigham Young. The Thursday match against SDSU was the MWC home opener. The Collegian regrets its error.

Moby Arenaâ€™s scoreboard could barely keep up with the Rams on its last night of service, as Colorado Stateâ€™s volleyball team beat San Diego State in a five-set track meet.

CSU will unveil its new $1 million scoreboard at the next home match on Oct. 14. The scoreboard will feature four video boards in the center of the arena and revamped scoreboards will be added to each concourse.

Though the match lasted five sets, it was completed in only one hour and 56 minutes. The Ramsâ€™ three prior five-set matches this season took well over two hours to complete.

â€œThis match was about service point scoring,â€ head coach Tom Hilbert said. The Rams committed ten service errors on the evening while SDSU erred nine times.

â€œI thought Danielle Minch was really good,â€ HIlbert said. â€œâ€œShe hit very smart. I think when she is seeing the block, she does very well.â€

Setter Evan Sanders finished just shy of a double-double, registering 43 assists and nine digs. San Diego Stateâ€™s reigning Mountain West Player of the week, sophomore Andrea Hannasch, tallied 12 kills while hitting .364 to lead the Aztecs.

Across the net from Hannasch was CSU middle blocker Megan Plourde, who managed eight kills and four blocking assists.

â€œMegâ€™s not used to getting blocked,â€ Hilbert said. â€œIt just wasnâ€™t her night.â€

In the three sets they won, CSU hit .429, while hitting just above 6 percent in the sets they lost. â€œWe played very good at times and not so hot at others,â€ Minch said.

â€œWe were serving pretty tough,â€ commented Hilbert. â€œWe were passing pretty well, but in Game 2 and Game 4 we softened up a little bit in serving and they got some momentum.â€

During their first two victorious sets, Ramsâ€™ sophomore middle blocker Breion Paige was lined up opposite Aztec senior Kelsey Manasco instead of Hannasch. In the fourth set SDSU coach Deitre Collins-Parker switched Manasco and Hannasch to better defend Paige.

Hilbert reworked his lineup to capitalize on the advantageous match up in the fifth set to seal the victory for the Rams.

â€œWhatever I can to do to help the team,â€ Paige said. â€œThere was some good energy in there tonight.â€

The win over the Aztecs was the Rams fourth match in seven days. The hectic week included playing in four different cities, with three different matches going the maximum five sets.

The CSU football teamâ€™s conference schedule could not start any tougher as they play host to No. 5 Texas Christian University Saturday at Hughes Stadium.

Experts say the Rams donâ€™t stand a chance.

TCU comes to Fort Collins with a top 10 running attack, a Davey Oâ€™Brian watch list player in senior Andy Dalton for best quarterback in the country and a defense ranked 18th in the country with 11 team sacks.

None of those facts are enough to convince CSUâ€™s coaches or players that this game is out of reach.

â€œIf we step out on the field and we donâ€™t believe we can win the game, then itâ€™s already taken care of,â€ said defensive captain Ricky Brewer. â€œSo of course we have to have the confidence to go out there and get it.â€

Any thoughts of an upset are based on a good week of practice, something the players feel has been accomplished following their first win in over a year.

The Rams approach the game with TCU as they would before any other game, but going into battle with a national title contender requires performing at a near-flawless level.

Junior wide receiver Matt Yemm and the offense have made paying attention to the details a priority.

â€œYou want to go as hard as you can every week, but you maybe go a little bit harder, be a little more disciplined, you know? Routes have to be perfect; blocking has to be perfect,â€ Yemm said. â€œEverything has to be perfect if youâ€™re going to beat these guys, so just focus on the little details.â€

Emotions are high for a matchup that could potentially turn the season around after a disappointing start.

This is where you want to be. Weâ€™ve been a ranked team before, and now we have one coming here.â€

An offense that suddenly awakened last week is anxious to show they can sustain their production against a top defensive team.

â€œWeâ€™re really excited to have the opportunity to go against such a prominent defense in the country. Everyone knows that theyâ€™re tough,â€ Yemm said. â€œAnd for the opportunity to get an upset and try to build off some of the momentum we got last week.â€

True-freshman quarterback Pete Thomas will face the best team he has ever seen in only his fifth collegiate start.

â€œItâ€™s going to be a big game, not only for me but the whole team, the whole community. So hopefully we can have a good showing out there,â€ Thomas said.

While the odds are stacked against the Rams, home field advantage can never be ruled out in college football.

â€œTheyâ€™re coming to our house, so thatâ€™s the first thing on our side,â€ Brewer said. â€œOf course we have a great student section, so thatâ€™s another thing on our side. If we can get that stadium loud and rocking, I think we have a great chance, believe it or not.â€

Football Beat Reporter Cris Tiller can be reached at sports@collegian.com.